title: Identification of a novel distal enhancer in human adiponectin gene.
abstract: Adiponectin is exclusively expressed in adipose tissue and secreted from adipocytes, and shows anti-diabetic and anti-atherogenic properties. However, the precise transcriptional mechanism of adiponectin remains elusive. In this study, the 5' flanking promoter region of human adiponectin gene was analyzed using UCSC genome browser, and a 10 390-bp fragment, containing an evolutionally conserved region among species, was investigated. The luciferase reporter assay using this fragment identified a novel distal enhancer of human adiponectin gene. Promoter constructs with the distal enhancer exhibited high promoter activities in 3T3-L1 mature adipocytes. However, no such activity was observed in other types of cell lines. The distal enhancer is highly conserved, and contains two completely conserved CCAAT boxes. In 3T3-L1 mature adipocytes, deletion or each point mutation of these CCAAT boxes markedly reduced luciferase activity driven by adiponectin promoter. Knockdown of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein alpha (CEBPA; also known as C/EBPalpha) using small interfering RNA diminished adiponectin mRNA expression and luciferase activity driven by adiponectin promoter with the distal enhancer. However, adiponectin promoter with each mutation of two CCAAT boxes in the distal enhancer did not respond to knockdown of CEBPA expression. Furthermore, CEBPA bound to the distal enhancer both in vitro and in vivo. We also identified a proximal promoter region responsible for transcriptional activation by the distal enhancer in human adiponectin gene. Our results indicate that CEBPA plays a pivotal role in the transcription of human adiponectin gene via the distal enhancer and proximal region in its promoter.
authors.affiliation: Department of Metabolic Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita-shi, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Katsumori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Segawa
authors.forename: Morihiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsuda
authors.forename: Atsunori
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fukuhara
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Morita
authors.forename: Yosuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okuno
authors.forename: Ryutaro
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Komuro
authors.forename: Iichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Shimomura
mesh_terms: D016475:3T3 Cells; D017667:Adipocytes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D052242:Adiponectin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D022762:CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011485:Protein Binding; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: C499918:ADIPOQ protein, human; D052242:Adiponectin; D022762:CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Proteins; C515848:CEBPA protein, human